Paul: It’s HOT today and it’s only going to get hotter as the week goes on, meaning the Shut Up & Sit Down News Room (at the very top of Pear Towers, 1 Pear Street, London, W1 1AA) is absolutely sweltering. Quinns and I can’t get too close in case we stick together like a pair of softening gummy bears.
Quinns: Do you know what the opposite of a softening gummy bear is?
Games Workshop’s new announcement, KILL TEAM.
Read More
Hot damn! We’ve got some smokin’ exclusives for you today. In this podcast we chat about our playtest of Reef, the next game in the series that brought us Azul. We gossip about Newspeak, a great-looking code-cracking game that will be arriving on Kickstarter imminently. We offer our thoughts on the fabulous labour of love Museum, which has yet to make its way to Kickstarter backers. Matt lays out his controversial verdict on Fantasy Flight’s Fallout board game! As temperatures continue to rise, the boys discuss their secret pastry playtest from Jenn Sandercock’s Edible Games Cookbook, and talk about what to do when busy board game conventions become too hot to handle. Finally, we approach a fiery finale where… oh dear. It seems the temperature of this podcast is reaching dangerous levels. Please, whatever you do, don’t click play! Podcast burns are NO JOKE
Read MoreQuinns: Hey everyone! We only like to remind people of this twice a year, but did you know that Shut Up & Sit Down is run mostly by donations from people like you?
If you’ve enjoyed the Monday news or our podcast, if you’ve got some use out of our ad-free reviews or bought a great game thanks to us, we’d like you to consider paying for the service we offer. Your money will go straight to our wages and expenses, and you’ll be helping us to help grow board gaming. ALSO, all donors receive our monthly behind-the-scenes newsletter, lettting you know what we’re working on, what games we’re excited about and what books and TV we’re enjoying.
ALSO, if you have Amazon Prime, you can now give us free money by creating a Twitch Prime account (free with Amazon Prime) and clicking subscribe on our new Twitch page. It’s only for one month, it doesn’t automatically roll month-to-month, but you can do it again for free every month if you’d like!
Thanks so much for your support, everybody. Giving you guys and girls content that you love continues to be the best job in the world.
Read More
Paul: Another week begins, another Monday Tuesday dawns and another cockerel’s call echoes out across the Shut Up & Sit Down farm. The first task of this week, and of every week, is to milk the News Cows, and so we lead the braying brown beasts over to the sheds. That sound you hear is the noise of FRESH AND WHOLESOME STORIES filling the pail.
And what could be more wholesome than Mesozooic, by far the cutest game of the week?
Read More
Please don your protective safety goggles! It’s time for some board game mad science.
In a decision that some critics are calling “A fine move,” today SU&SD acts with unprecedented boldness to review three games in one video: 2017’s Century: Spice Road, 2018’s Century: Eastern Wonders and Century: From Sand to Sea, the game you can play if you own both previous games.
Has designer Emerson Matsuuchi pulled it off? Will the boys be anticipating the third game in the series that releases next year? And what does all of this have to do with the Spice Girls?
Click play, and find out.
Read More
Century: Spice Road is the first in a series of games that explores the history of each century with spice-trading as the theme for the first installment. In Century: Spice Road, players are caravan leaders who travel the famed silk road to deliver spices to the far reaches of the continent for fame and glory. Each turn, players perform one of four actions:
Establish a trade route (by taking a market card)
Make a trade or harvest spices (by playing a card from hand)
Fulfill a demand (by meeting a victory point card’s requirements and claiming it)
Rest (by taking back into your hand all of the cards you’ve played)
The last round is triggered once a player has claimed their fifth victory point card, then whoever has the most victory points wins.
Read More
Centuries ago, the lucrative spice trade compelled the prosperous nations of the world to explore alternate routes to the sources of these precious goods. These nations took to the seas to seek out exotic lands. This led to the discovery of the famed Spice Islands where the most valuable spices of the world were found. This discovery also led to further exploration, competition….and later, war! During this time of prosperity and opportunity, you find yourself traveling on the high seas in search of these exotic wonders. As a merchant and privateer representing your nation, you seek to control this region for glory and profit. Your journey continues in the Far East…
Designed by Emerson Mastuuchi, Century: Eastern Wonders invites fans to return to the exciting world of spice trading as players take to the high seas in the role of merchants seeking to prosper in the exotic Indonesian islands. Century: Eastern Wonders offers new, satisfying game mechanisms that provide infinite replayability and countless strategies.
Read More
Quinns: Last week we wrote the news in a cider pub, tapping away at our keyboards to the merry belching of a few old men. Today, we thought we’d write the news in a fashionable local coffee shop.
Paul: This is a disaster. Why can’t people put their mugs into the saucers gently. Why are they all bashing them together like toddlers.
Quinns: There are at least two women within ten feet of me who think they’re Carrie Bradshaw. I’m friends with a lot of writers and none of them look this stylish or pleased with themselves as they write. They all put their hair up and enter a kind of sticky and hypnotised state.
Paul: I did like that yappy animal that was behind you though. The one that looked like a Normal Dog that a level 5 wizard had cast Reduce Dog on.
Quinns: I don’t want to ever come back here. Why would anyone come here instead of sitting snug in the shadowy confines of a quiet pub. I feel like I’m in an iPhone advert.
Read More
Who wants to play a game about manufacturing forks!
Anybody? No? What if we were to tell you that Arkwright turns the manufacturing of bread, forks and lamps into a bruising war. What if we were to say that this game puts the very machinery of the industrial revolution in your hands, and allows you to grind your friends in its very cogs.
What if we were to tell you that this game is a cheaper, rock-solid competitor to fascinating games like Food Chain Magnate and Panamax.
Would you want to play then?
Read More
In Arkwright, 2 to 4 players lead enterprises and try to develop and run them profitably over several decades. It is important to invest in your own company and ensure that the value of its shares rises. The player with the most valuable portfolio of their shares wins the game.
In the beginning, workers are required to run the factories. However, their expensive wages (£2 – £5) make machines (£1) very desirable. To increase a factory’s production of goods, you may hire more workers or improve the technological level of your factory.
You determine the price of your goods for each of your factories. To enhance the chances of selling your goods to serve the demand in England, you can improve the technological level of your factories, increase the quality of your goods, and partake in distribution activities. The higher these factors are, the more successful you will be. However, the higher your prices, the less appealing your goods become.
Read More